What Chan Didn't Know
by A Fire Nation Citizen
Summary: What happened to Chan after the episode The Beach? Did he get into trouble with his father? Most takes place three years later when he returns to Ember Island and runs into a couple of the people (zuko and mail) responsible for his problems.


**Note: (for those like my friends who forgot who Chan was or what happened in the episode the beach)**

Chan is the popular guy who hosted a party on Ember Island. Azula flirted with Chan awkwardly and unsuccessfully at first, but later kissed him.

Chan kicked Zuko out of his party for throwing his friend, who was flirting with Mai, across the room. At the end of the episode Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty-lee destroyed the inside of the beach house, eventually burning all or part of it down. While this was happening Chan cried like a baby and the party guests ran away screaming.

* * *

**What Chan Didn't Know**

While Chan's father, Admiral Chan, didn't exactly _let_ Chan have any of those parties, he didn't exactly _forbid_ them either. He usually just looked the other way and let his son be a teenager, but when half the beach house burned down after a party the admiral hadn't even _known about_, he decided that the teen and his friends were out of control.

Accidentally burring down a beach house was bad enough, but on top of that he came up with a crazy story about a girl who bent blue fire and a young man whose description sounded suspiciously like Prince Zuko. Knowing his son, he made up the description based on an old wanted poster and forgot where it came from.

Up until now he had been lenient with his son, who often ignored school work and other responsibilities in favor of hanging out with friends or going out with girls. Even when they weren't on vacation on Ember Island Chan was focused on only his social life.

Admiral Chan hoped his son would study engineering* and really make something of himself. After the beach house burning, however, his father decided that the only place for his son was the Navy. He decided that, to learn responsibility, his son would have to pay off the damages to the house with his salary in the Navy. The admiral hoped that strict military discipline would succeed where he failed.

Admiral Chan used his connections to get his son a place in the officer** training program. Who knows? There might end up being another Admiral Chan in the family. So only three years after the end of the war Chan-the-beach-bum was Lieutenant Chan and not liking it one little bit.

* * *

Chan was unpopular on Ember Island now. Many of Chan's friends were the sons of wealthy and important people; most of them didn't have jobs or care about working. They were all either finishing at the university or completely carefree in the way only those born into immensely wealthy families can be.

Nobody in these families worked, except Chan. He was unable to come to Ember Island for nearly three years; he hadn't seen his best friend Ruon-Jian in almost as long of a time. Both of these things _couldn't_ be good for his social life.

After the war ended and the glory of being in the military, chances for heroism, more frequent advancement opportunities, and even the _size _of the Navy decreased. After the war ended, Chan's job was much lamer than anything his friends might do.

Even his father who was so proud to see his son join the Navy and follow his example was a bit unsure about a possible bright future in the Navy. True, the danger dying, but there was something negative about being in the fire nation military right now; especially after the disillusionment that lead to the criticism and distaste of the profession.

The true outcome of Chan's experiences in the navy were informing him that he was a firebender, teaching him some bending and giving him even more reason to hate those four teens who destroyed the beach house, forcing him into this life. The ones he really blamed for messing up his life were that scarred boy and his sister. See he didn't _really _remember all their faces, but he did remember that scar. It was horribly ugly and covered half his face after all, who could forget _that_.

So, when job-holding and socially distant Lieutenant Chan returned to Ember Island three years after the war ended he was not only a changed person but an unpopular one. He was the type who was always surrounded by friends. He was confident, and the coolest of the cool. He was _Chan:_ doing noting all year… hitting on pretty girls... That was his thing, or it had been, before the beach house burned down.

It was more than a little strange, coming back to the island. Chan grew up and matured _some _since the war, but his youth and nostalgia for "the good old times" made him want his experiences on the island to be the same as before. Chan hoped that somehow things would just go back to normal, at least for one last summer.

* * *

Zuko was not a big fan of Ember Island, but after weeks of Mai encouraging him to take a break and relax Zuko found he spending a few day there. He was so wrapped up in family problems, colonial troubles, and politics for nearly three years straight that it was starting to take its toll on the young firelord.

The assassination attempts stopped or at least lessened, and the trouble with the colonies and his family straightened out. Zuko _finally_ agreed to take five days to get away completely, and relax; as long as Mai went with him.

On the third day of his short vacation, Zuko and Mai decided to walk down along the beach. As the couple neared some busy public beach land they stopped. Not particularly caring to walk through the child and sand castle infested beach, the two young adults decided to turn around.

* * *

Chan hoped to come back and have everything be like it was before. He and Rohn-Jian would rule the beach again and invite cute girls to parties. After all they were still young. Instead Rohn-Jian had a steady girl-friend; and nobody else from back then wanted to talk to him.

One morning Chan found himself standing alone on the edge of the beach, just rejected by the third girl he asked out that day, when he saw the guy with the scar. Identifying this tranquil, smiling young adult as the cause of all his problems, Chan became annoyed.

_That guy__! I __hate__ that guy!_ Chan thought to himself. _Why the hell is_ he _so happy?_ In the midst of his already bad mood he became especially annoyed, even a bit angry, _And there's his _girlfriend _too. I want to_ pound his face in_, __probably could too._ As he was thinking these dark thoughts, Chan automatically began walking up towards the two of them.

"You!" He yelled, pointing at Zuko with a slightly crazed look on his face, "You destroyed my dad's beach house and _ruined my life_!"

Zuko blinked in surprise, a bemused expression on his face. It took Zuko a moment to realize the guy was even talking to him. _What did that guy just say?_ _Something about a beach house?_ _Who_ was _that guy? He did look vaguely familiar..._

Seeing the clueless expression on the scarred boy's face, Chan realized that the guy didn't even remember him… at all, or know what heck Chan was talking about. This annoyed Chan further. The guy ruined his social life by destroying that party, and he didn't even remember Chan's name!

While Chan was bust thinking these dark thoughts, Zuko was starting to remember Chan.

"Mai," Zuko asked, "Doesn't he look familiar…I can't remember…"

Chan caught a few of the words Mai said in reply to her boyfriend. "When we came here during the war… party she made us go to…"

"The least you could do is pay for it." Chan stated, glaring at the couple.

"It's Chan isn't it?" Zuko began, sounding confident, impatient, and businesslike, "I can give you-"

Chan clenched his fist and interrupted Zuko loudly. "Well, if it's so much _trouble _to clean up your messes, why bother!" It was incredibly hot outside for the island and the heat just added to Chan's bad mood. Zuko frowned and was about to say something to Chan when-

Lieutenant Chan decided to Firebend.

* * *

Zuko defected the blast easily and then ignored him by beginning to walk away with Mai, not wanting to bother with this during his rare, valuable vacation time. Chan was simply not worth his time.

But before he walked very far, the mediocre Navy-trained fire bender attacked again. Zuko's back was turned but he heard Chan yell, Zuko turned around just in time to move Chan's fire-filled hand out of the way, sending the blast out onto the already hot sand. Mai sighed and remarked that she wished she brought her blades. This was boring, and she wanted to spend time with Zuko.

Zuko looked at Chan. He was starting to get a bit annoyed with this man's anger and persistence over what was to Zuko an old, petty issue. The guy didn't seem to know who Zuko was, or want to listen to a word Zuko said. Zuko was Fire Lord now and that came with much bigger problems, but he was on _vacation._ He didn't want to deal with this annoying guy he thought to himself as Chan attacked again.

Chan was trying to do who knows what, considering there was no way he would win, and didn't know _what_ he was trying to win. It seemed that Chan was just angry. Zuko supposed the guy would give up soon. There was no way, it seemed, to get this guy to calm down and stop bothering him, other than let him let out his frustration.

* * *

Jing-mei and Li, the police officers, were both very relaxed. Nothing serious ever happened on Ember Island. Minor acts of vandalism and rich men's sons getting into drunken fights were just about it. These things, especially the former, usually lead to heaps of paperwork, especially when the vandals were caught.

Working on Ember Island was a bit like a vacation in itself. There were few thefts, because it was so hard to get onto the island in the first place, and certainly no dangerous criminals. Just paperwork. Li sighed.

Suddenly Jing-mei stopped "Li look, a fight."

"Huh? Really? This early?" the two of them hurried down onto the beach, "usually they don't get into fights until-" he stopped talking.

"Uh, Jing-mei, lets not intervene in this." Jing-mei's eyes were wide too because she realized the same thing. It took her a few seconds for the two to recover and then Jing-mei spoke:

"I can't believe what I am seeing! Wow, It's the actual firelord…" Li stated.

"Lets wait around," she said, "it's _definitely _illegal to attack the firelord. We might be needed."

"Yah right," said Li, he laughed, "the firelord totally has this one. Unless he wants us to arrest the attacker…" It looked as though the firelord had not only the upper hand, but complete control of the situation. There was no way this guy, Chan, was going to be able to even touch Zuko, but Chan kept trying. It was almost funny to watch.

The two police thought the situation interesting and decided to stay, just in case the firelord wanted this ridiculous, angry attacker locked up.

* * *

Zuko realized that the police hadn't tried to stop the fight. They might recognize me he thought, and maybe don't want to intervene. This gave him an idea of how to get rid of Chan and continue his vacation.

Fire Lord Zuko shot a large blast of fire straight at Chan. Zuko knew that Chan, with his limited soldier's knowledge of bending, would barely be barely able to block the fire.

Just as Zuko predicted it would, the collision between their two blasts of fire sent Chan flying straight into the cliff face. He hit the cliff with an "oof," then fell to the sand and lay there quietly. It wasn't hard enough to brake any bones, but it was hard enough that it winded him, gave him a few bruises, and made him sore for a few days.

Zuko looked over at the two police officers who, noticing the firelord looking at them, walked over to him.

* * *

Chan was starting to get up, rubbing his pounding head with his hand. He could see the two police talking to the scarred man. He wondered vaguely if it was possible to have someone arrested for damage to property that happened three years ago. _I bet I can get him arrested for blasting me into the cliff though _he thought. _Ha-Ha he's probably making excuses to them. I can prove we didn't destroy it now,_ _and probably get the money for the damages._ He smiled and started to try to get up.

"Goodbye navy! Hel-lo, old life back!" Chan said to himself quietly with a smile.

He rubbed his eyes. His eyes must be off, he thought, rubbing them again, because it looked as though the two officers just _saluted_ the scarred man. Sore, he fell back on to the sand and lay there, hoping the world would soon start making sense again.

The next thing Chan knew _he_ was being arrested. Zuko and Mai were already walking away.

"Wait _what_?" Chan protested, confused and outraged, "I didn't even do anything! Did you _see_ what he just did to me? Why don't you arrest _him_? Unfair! You're just going to let him walk! What did I even _do_?"

"Relax buddy, we're going to let you out in a few days. We're not _really_ arresting you. Just-" Said the first one.

"We _could_ arrest you for causing a disturbance on the beach." The female officer began, answering his question, "or-"

"Yah but so could he! He's the one who _slammed_ me into the _cliff_!" Chan protested.

"I'll tell you what you did," the male officer said in an annoyed voice, "you attacked the firelord. _That's _your crime, and you are lucky because…"

The officers were told to make sure Chan got any medical attention he might need, and then keep Chan locked up until the Fire Lord left two days later. Then Chan would be released with no criminal record; after all, Chan didn't even know who he had attacked. This way Zuko thought, the guy would not bother him again during his vacation.

Later, as Chan sat in the ember island jail, Chan mentally kicked himself for his stupidity in not listening to what the man was about to say. It might have spared him a very dull weekend.

* * *

When Chan arrived home, he found a man waiting for him. The man had a box with him. When he saw Chan he walked up to him, handed him the box, and then walked away. Chan tried to ask him what was in the box and where it came from, but the man said he didn't know, he was told not to open it.

Chan shrugged and opened the box. Inside he found the exact amount to pay off the beach house damages; Chan knew _exactly _where the box came from.

* * *

After

There _was_ another Admiral Chan in the family. It was not the first Admiral Chan's son, but his grandson.

Chan-the-younger only ever made it to Captain. He had a reputation for being… a bit stupid and lazy, and it_ was_ somewhat true.

Chan left the Navy two years after his father's death. Then, Chan stupidly invested nearly all his inheritance in a new company called Cabbage Corp. Just a few years later the company became successful, and Chan became a very wealthy man. He lived the rest of his life on clever investments.

* * *

NOTES TO REDUCE CONFUSION:

*During the war the most important and successful people in the fire nation were those who were either brilliant at fighting, strategy, or engineering. One example would be how people like the war minister and Mai's father "got ahead" because of engineering.

**For those who don't know how this works in the military there are two types of people: officers and enlisted men. Officers in the Firenation means: Lieutenant, Captain, Commander, Admiral.

I use the work "officer" later to refer to the police, but this means something else entirely.


End file.
